


You Must Be Strong

by vktrnkfrv



Series: Spiderling [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Happy Hogan is a Good Bro, How Do I Tag, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Sorry, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Peter Parker Deserves Better, Peter Parker Feels, Peter Parker Has Issues, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home Mid-Credits Scene, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Sad with a Happy Ending, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie) Spoilers, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, Why Did I Write This?, i apologise from the bottom of my heart, more like hurt no comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 21:01:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20103559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vktrnkfrv/pseuds/vktrnkfrv
Summary: “Maybe she has a point.” Rhodey walked up to Tony and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You almost died.”“Yeah. But Peter did.” Tony sent a sharp look to everyone in the room.





	You Must Be Strong

**Author's Note:**

> this is a part two (that no one ever had asked for) to 'you'll be in my heart'. It starts from the snap in infinity war, through endgame then through spiderman far from home. it's kinda from tony's pov, but changes to peter's somewhere in the middle or something.

> ** _When destiny calls you, you must be strong_ **
> 
> ** _I may not be with you_ **
> 
> ** _But you got to hold on_ **
> 
> ** _They'll see in time, I know_ **
> 
> ** _We'll show them together. . ._ **
> 
> ** _. . .You’ll be in my heart_ **
> 
> ** _No matter what they say_ **
> 
> ** _You'll be here in my heart_ **
> 
> ** _Always_ **

* * *

** **

When Tony saw everyone turn to ashes, his heart dropped. He had no doubt in his mind that Bruce had ended up calling Steve and telling him of the threat. But they seemed to fail. He couldn’t help but feel bitter toward Strange. If he didn’t hand over the Time Stone, it wouldn’t have happened, granted, Tony would have died. The next thought it Tony like a bullet train. Vision was gone. Tony liked Vision, his only regret, not spending enough time with him. Vision just reminded Tony of JARVIS. Then the thought of JARVIS lead him down the path about Ultron, then in turn the Accords. It twisted and turn down a dark road of memories until he was in Siberia. He still struggled to think about it. 

With everyone disappearing, there was light. Peter, his son. One he had raised since he was two, was still standing. He wasn’t going to disappear. He was here to stay. What happened next, would haunt Tony for the rest of his life. Panic settled into Peter’s eyes. 

_God no._ The thought rushed into Tony’s mind._ Not my son. _The universe had different ideas. 

“Dad?” Peter asked intentively. He took two unsteady steps, Tony ran to get to Peter before he collapsed. “I don’t feel so good.” 

The feeling of his only child turning to ashes was a feeling that would stay with Tony for a lifetime. “Hey, hey,” Tony rushed out. “You’re going to be fine.” 

“I’m sorry dad.” Peter mumbled as he could feel himself slipping away, molecule by molecule. “I love you.” 

“I love you more.” Tony replied with tears rushing down his face. 

-

Tony touched down on Earth. Home. But it wasn’t home. Home was where Peter was, and Peter was gone. Wakanda was amazing, Tony wished Peter could have been there to see the advanced country. The novelty of being there quickly wore off. 

Pepper and Rhodey were walking up to the spaceship first. Tony knew who they were looking for. His heart broke again. Two weeks adrift in space only made the pain worse, he still wasn’t ready to accept Peter was gone. Tony shook his head at his brother in arms and fiancé. Tony quickly became more interested in the ground below him, he couldn’t bare to see their faces. Arms circled around him, holding him tight. Tony was grateful for the support as he collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Black dots scattered across Tony’s vision, and he gave into the darkness that crept up on him. 

When Tony came to, he was in a hospital room of sorts. Confused, Tony looked out the window and saw he was in Wakanda. Dread filled Tony. The snap happen. Half then universe is gone. Peter is gone. Tony was quick to get up out of bed. He knew he shouldn’t be up out of bed. But he was alone in the hospital room and he wanted to find the team and reverse the snap. 

He quickly turned off the heart monitor, and pulled out his IV. He walked through the halls until he saw what looked like a doctor. 

“Mr Stark,” they said in a panic. “You should still be in bed.” 

“Where are they?” He asked. 

“Who?” 

“The Avengers,” Tony snapped. “You know, ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heros’.”

The doctor sighed. They obviously knew Tony no intentions of going back to bed, and they had the sneak suspicion Tony would just get back up. “Follow me.” 

Tony followed the doctor through all the palace, to find all the Avengers (or what was left of them), standing around. 

It was like the old band was together. Although the talking raccoon was a new addition, who seemed to get along with Nebula. The door closed behind Tony and everyone turned to look at him. 

“You should still be in bed.” Rhodey rushed over to Tony as fast as he could. Very gently, Rhodey lead Tony to a chair and with more force than was necessary pushed him to sit down. 

“What happened?” Tony asked when all the eyes were on him. 

“A global catastrophe.” Natasha said as she sat down next to Tony. “It wasn’t just the people of the snap affected. If your surgeon disappeared in the snap, bad luck.” 

“Is there a way to reverse it?” Tony asked. 

“Not without the stones.” Steve said grimly. 

Tony felt helpless. He had all the money in the world, all the resources in the world, all the knowledge in the world, yet he still couldn’t save his son. Tear threaten to come back. While he was in space, if Tony wasn’t trying to fix the ship, he spent it crying. Crying for the loss of his only child. 

After a few hours, they saw a similar power surge of the use of Infinity Stones. Hope was instilled in all the heroes. They had the chance. And they had more power on their side. Tony was still shocked to know of Capitan Marvel. He vaguely remembered see her in a haze as she pushed the ship back to space. 

“FRIDAY,” Tony said as he stood. “It’s time to suit up.” 

“Of course sir.” FRIDAY replied from Tony’s watch. 

Everyone gapped at Tony. He had suffered from a lethal stab wound and suffered from severe malnutrition and dehydration. He almost died. He should be resting, not gearing up to to fly halfway across the universe and fight Thanos. But everyone stayed quiet. No one had the heart to tell him no. 

“Look,” Carol walked up to Tony. “Stark is it? I’m just going to put it in simple terms. You can’t go.” 

“And why the hell not!” Tony exclaimed through clenched teeth.

“Maybe she has a point.” Rhodey walked up to Tony and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You almost died.”

“Yeah. But Peter did.” Tony sent a sharp look to everyone in the room. 

-

A month passed. There was no hope for bring the snapped back. Tony fell into a dark hole. Nothing could pull him up. It was like the 90s again. Excessive drinking and cooped up in his workshop. All the progress he had made in fourteen years, crumbled in a flash. There was no good in his life. He was all alone. He missed the days where Peter would run into his bedroom and jump on his bed, or the days when Peter would fall asleep in the lab and it was up to Tony to carry him to bed. 

Living the compound was hard. He was constantly reminded of his failure as a father. He just wanted to go and so, out of nowhere, Pepper and Tony left. Tony brought a small cabin far from the compound, far from everyone. It was there he met his saving grace. Pepper was pregnant. He was going to be a father. The idea of being a father, made Tony upset. He was a father, but he wasn’t anymore. Any progress that he had made over Peter, was mashed into a billion pieces. He drunk even more. And Pepper had to care for herself, the baby and Stark Industries, with no help. 

But the day came when Tony finally pulled his head out of his arse. It was a horrible day, levelling on par for when he lost Peter. Pepper almost lost the baby. Not even breathing yet and the baby was almost gone. Gone like Peter. It was a rush of emotions. First Tony was half asleep and half sober, when FRIDAY sent him an alert. Pepper had been experiencing cramps for the most part of an hour, then came blood. There was so much blood on the bed, that Tony was sure they had lost the baby. Tony drove to the hospital, with one hand on the wheel and the other on Pepper, while break every single traffic law. Luckily, they made it in time. The doctor was able to prevent a miscarriage and Tony would be forever grateful. 

From that day, Tony promised to be better. Pepper was on mandatory bedrest for a week. So Tony stepped up and took over as acting CEO. It was hard, he hadn’t done it in so long, and everyone looked at him and was wanting answers. Even after Pepper was off bedrest, Tony made more of an effort to help Pepper with the company. He did not want a repeat of what happened just under a month ago. 

The day came. It was quiet day. Tony was finishing something in the nursery and Pepper was wondering about the house. Tony felt giddy when Pepper went into labor. It was a rush of emotions and a rush of actions. Tony drove Pepper to the hospital, he almost cursed for living so far out. On the way to the hospital, he broke almost every traffic law and ran every single red light. 

Once they had pulled up to the hospital, Pepper had no trouble on hauling herself out of the car and walking into the birthing unit, Tony followed behind like a little puppy. Within moments of Pepper walking into the reception, a contraction hit and she breathed in deeply and put a hand underneath her stomach. Nurses ran over and helped her to a room, then into a bed. Tony followed closely behind and sat himself into the chair next to Pepper. 

As the contractions on closer together, Tony’s anxiety started to climb. He had been a father already, and he failed. Failed to protect Peter when it mattered the most. It was like all Starks were destined to achieve anything, but fall short on parenting. A sharp squeeze from Pepper’s hand brought Tony out of his thoughts. Tony’s doubts wouldn’t change anything, this baby was coming wether he liked it or not. He would protect his child with every ounce of his being, he will wrap them up in bubblewrap and keep them out of the public eye if he had to. 

A few hours later, Tony welcomed his first daughter into the world. He sat in awe as he watched Pepper reach out for her child. Pepper was exhausted, Tony couldn’t blame her. But the love and care in her eyes out weighted the exhaustion. Tony had only seen Pepper look like that once in his life, when she finally got to know Peter. It had taken a few months, but Pepper warmed up to the idea of Tony being a father, and was in complete awe of Peter. 

“Morgan.” Pepper mumbled under her breath. 

“Morgan?” Tony questioned. “As in your uncle.” 

Pepper didn’t reply, Tony could see her thinking. Like she was running through a list in her mind. 

“Morgan Piper.” Pepper said finally, with a smile on her face. 

“After you?” Tony didn’t mind at all. He would preferred for the kid to be named after him, but he couldn’t find himself to care. 

“No.” A flash of sadness came across Pepper’s face and Tony could see tears well up in her eyes. “After Peter.”

Tony’s mind went on shut down. He couldn’t breathe, it was like someone had just dosed a bucket of ice cold water over him. Tony felt bad, not once did he think to name his kid after Peter. But a small, sad, smiled came across Tony’s face. 

“Morgan Piper Stark.” Tony finally said. 

-

Serval years had passed, and now Morgan was four. She was four years old. She loved everything a four year old. The absolute bane of Tony’s existence was Frozen. It had been a while since Tony had been up on the game with kids movies, but they had conveniently released two more movies in the five years, and Morgan loved them all. There was one thing Morgan loved more than Frozen, and it was Peter. 

Tony remembered the day when Morgan came to him with a prototype of a very early Spiderman suit. 

“Who’s this?” She questioned innocently. 

Tony didn’t know what to say. He didn’t intend to hide Peter away. But Tony would have thought Morgan was too young to understand. Against his better judgement, he told Morgan about Peter right from when he first met him all the way to when he dusted in his arms on Titan. Spiderman was quick to become Morgan’s favourite superhero, much to Tony’s dismay. Every night before bed, Morgan would ask Tony to tell her a story: ‘The Adventures of Ironman and Spiderman: Protectors of New York’. Morgan quickly came up with the name after the first few nights. Tony quickly became a fan of telling stories to Morgan. The more stories Tony told, the more Morgan fell in love with her brother. 

Life was finally looking good for Tony Stark, after enough bullshit to last a life time, he was finally back in his good place. That was all until Steve Rogers came knocking at his door. He hadn’t seen Steve since his wedding, even then, Steve stood at the back and very once talked to Tony. Tony hoped to play the whole ‘I’m not home, come back later’ trick, but it didn’t work. Tony sighed and put his coffee on the table and walked to the door. 

Time Travel. It was a crazy idea, it was science-fiction. There was no way for someone to physically go back in time. Even if they did, hadn’t they seen Back To The Future? They can’t go around messing with time. 

“No.” Tony said instantly. 

“What about Peter?” Steve asked. 

Tony exploded. “You don’t think I miss him, that I want him back! But I’m not setting myself up from false hope, I couldn’t come back from it. I’ve already tried so hard to bring him and the rest back, I went crazy over it.” Tony paused to take a deep breath and calm his racing heart. “Get. Out.” 

Steve said nothing and walked out of the cabin. Tony lent onto the table with his face in his arms. Without knowing, tears started to flood down his face. He felt guilty. It was his fault. He should have protected Peter better, it was all his fault Peter had crumbled away on Titan. He could’t calm his thoughts, his breath came out raggedy, and his heartbeat was skipping every few seconds. Then it got harder to breath, Tony gasped out, greedily trying to take in as much air as he am. _Failure. Worthless._ Where all words being thrown about in his mind. 

Tony was underwater and detached from the world. It wasn’t until Pepper had came in and wrapped her arms around her husband. The sent of her perfume hit him first and he felt himself relax. 

“Just follow my breathing.” Pepper whispered in his ears and over-exaggerated her breathing. Tony tried to copy Pepper and he slowly started to calm down and turned to look Pepper in they eyes. “What happened?” 

“Rogers came around.” Tony replied. “They might have discovered a way to get the stones. They asked for my help. I said no.” 

“Why?” 

It was a big question. Tony didn’t think he could answer it. It was only a few letters, but it scared the living daylights out of him. He couldn’t help but think that Pepper would realise he was pathetic, selfish and a coward. “I can’t set myself up from another failure, I don’t think I’ll be able to recover.” He admitted finally. 

“Look,” Pepper started. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. No one can make you. But if you do it, and if some how fails, I’ll be by your side to pick up the pieces again.” 

-

Tony sat on the sofa after everyone had gone to bed. In his hand was a small tumbler with an even smaller amount of whiskey. He mulled over his thoughts. He wanted to help. He really did. But failure scared him shitless. Over the past five years, he had tried everything, and despite what everyone thought, he kept in touch with Natasha to see how everyone was doing. Tony’s eyes drifted throughout the living room. It felt like a home. There was books and toys of Morgan’s thrown about the living room, there was a pile of washing in the corner that Pepper or Tony was yet to fold. His eyes made it to a shelf. There were a lot of photos. There was Pepper and him on there wedding day, Morgan’s first birthday, their first holiday as a family. But the most special photo was one of him and Peter after he had came back from Afghanistan. 

It had been a few weeks after he had finally came back and Peter had a nightmare. Peter had curled up on Tony, while Tony sat with his head on the back of the couch asleep, with random cartoons playing in the background. Tony swore it was Rhodey who had taken it. He missed Peter. He was his first love. When Peter had no one, Tony welcomed him into his life with loving arms. 

With new found determination, Tony stood up and walked to the kitchen. He tipped the rest of his drink down the drain and started brewing a pot of coffee. He was going to crack time travel, even if it killed him. Tony walked back with a full cup of black coffee and started to work. In under twenty minutes, Tony had cracked time travel and wasted a whole pot of coffee. 

-

Bruce, someone who Tony would be forever grateful for, had reversed the snap. Tony’s heart jumped for joy when he saw Barton’s wife had called, and she had supposedly disappeared in the snap. Their celebrations where cut short as there was a missile sent to the compound. Which left everyone scrambling for cover as the building collapsed around them. Tony came to and saw rubble of what used to be the Avengers Compound. They were officially in the endgame. 

Tony thoughts drifted to Peter. Where in the world would he be, would he just show up at the cabin with Pepper and Morgan? On the other hand, he could be somewhere unreachable. While being on the same level as Einstein in terms of genius, was amazing, and something Tony could throw into other people’s face, it was a curse. Tony felt like he had been doused in ice cold water, the realisation of Peter being suck on Titan hit Tony like a freight train. He had left his son, alone on an alien planet, far from Earth, far from Tony’s arms. He had no way of getting there. But as much as Tony wanted his son back, they had more pressing issues. Thanos. They had killed the purple bastard from their timeline, but the asshole was determined to make all their lives miserable, and jumped forward in time. 

Tony fought and he got knocked down. Then he would get back up, and do it all over again. He couldn’t afford to lose. Her had more at stake. Peter, Morgan and Pepper were all counting on him. His family was just in his grasp, almost whole again. If they lost again, there would be no way for Tony to ever come back again. With hew found energy, Tony fought harder and pushed himself harder. However Tony’s age caught up with him, he was knocked and he was struggling to get back up again. Then you could say he saw the most beautiful thing ever. Orange portals opened all behind him, locations from all around the universe. Backup had came, hundreds of people came out, ready for the fight of a lifetime. 

The battlefield fell quiet. Steve stood quite the way from Tony, but Tony heard as loud as day, “Avengers Assemble.” No one needed to be told twice, with all new found power and strength, they all ran to face Thanos and his army. He knew this must have been Strange that pulled all of this together. Hope flooded Tony. Peter was here. Peter was back on Earth. Peter was home. Dread filled Tony as soon as he realised Peter would be here fighting. He was more than tempted to find Peter and send him back to the cabin where Morgan was safely hidden away. Tony knew his son, and Peter would find a way back to fight. 

Tony was feeling a little outnumbered and was struggling to keep up with all the aliens coming in. Tony saw a very familiar web attach itself to one of the aliens, and with some superhuman strength, was thrown away. 

“DAD!” Tony knew the voice. It was hard not to know. In a blur of gold, red and blue, Peter single handily took out everyone who was a threat around Tony. 

Peter turned around to face Tony. His face had lost most of the child like innocence that Peter had. _Dying then coming back to life probably did that to someone. _Tony thought bitterly to himself. Peter’s eyes filled with tears as he took two shaky steps towards his father. Tony wasted no time in closing the gap between father and son. His grip tighten on Peter as Peter’s legs gave out on him. Tony’s heart clenched uncomfortably when Peter started to cry, at some point, Tony had joined him and they were now sitting on the ground in the middle of the battle. 

“I was so scared.” Peter mumbled. “I thought I was alone on Titan, when Dr Strange walked up and started telling me five years had past…” Peter started to ramble on, Tony could care less what Strange had said, all that mattered was he had his son in his arms. 

“What ever happens,” Tony started suddenly. “I will always love you.” 

Peter nodded, before replying, “I love you more.” 

_What ever it takes._ Tony thought. “I will not stop until you’re safe.” 

-

Peter shakily stood before Tony. It was all over. Everything. Thanos was finally gone, and he would never be back. Tony had made sure of that. 

“Dad,” Peter had squeaked out. He ran towards Tony, who was propped up. “Dad no.” Peter collapsed on the ground next to Tony. “You can’t leave me. I need you.” 

Everyone had started to get back up, the adrenaline and the shock of the events started to wear off. Steve was ready to smile at Tony, tell him they had done it, they could all go home and it would all just be a bad memory. But Tony wasn’t there, he was several metres away, dying. Rhodey and Pepper were fast to make it over to Tony. Rhodey had quickly scanned Tony, but it was too late. He was dying, there was multiple organ failures, broken bones and his whole right side was burnt and broken beyond repair. 

Pepper sat on the other side of Tony. She placed a shaky hand on his cheek. Tears were running down her face. “C’mon Tony, we have to go home.” Pepper pleaded. She knew it was selfish but she wanted Tony. She needed Tony. “You, me and the kids can go to Japan like Morgan was wanting.” 

Peter had given up. His optimism shot. He fall forward and rested his head on his father’s chest. He hated his enhanced hearing, he could hear everyone’s fast hearts beating, but the only one he wanted to listen to was fading away. 

“Pete,” Tony managed out. Peter looked up at his father. “You’ll will always be my greatest creation.” Tony smiled sadly at Peter. It was the closet thing to a ‘I love you’ Tony had ever gotten from Howard. And it held a very special place in his heart. 

“Tony, we will be alright.” Pepper managed out. Tony looked tiredly at Peter than Pepper, then nodded slightly and closed his eyes. 

**Author's Note:**

> now this was originally going to be just a one part thing. but it would have turned out to be like 10000 words or something. so i just decide to break it up into two parts. like the first part basically cover the end of infinity war to endgame. then the second part is just going to be far from home. i had debated whether or not to kill tony like in endgame, or have him in a coma of sorts. the end of this part kinda of leaves it open, but suggests tony dies. im still on the fence, if you want tony to live then let me know. 
> 
> there is a lot of inaccuracies in this, i *might* change it to be correct when i can emotionally prepare myself to watch endgame again. or to spare me a lot of pain, just nicely point it out and i'll change it. also to say i didn't cry while writing this would be a complete lie.


End file.
